1. Field of the Invention
Connector apparatus electrically connects together a plurality of shielded cables, including a housing containing a chamber including a first opening for receiving one end of a first shielded cable, and at least two second openings receiving the one ends of at least two second shielded cables, respectively. A conductive shield associated with the housing connects together the shielding layers of all of the cables, and a printed circuit board arranged in the housing connects at least one conductor of at least two of the second cables with a corresponding conductor of the first cable.
2. Description of Related Art
In the field of automation techniques, one repeatedly encounters the problem with cables having patch connectors using the so-called M-standard (i.e., M8 or M12 standard), of making suitable twin or T-shaped connections. Currently, the solutions to these problems include: (a) the use of commonly manufactures patch connectors with a cable screw connection having two inputs, (b) a T-piece connection without cable and having three plugs, and (c) one line where two cables come out of one plug. These solutions work well for unshielded electrical cables, but they are not suitable for shielded cables because the cable shields cannot readily be placed twice on a single plug.
The present invention was developed to provide an improved T-type connection for shielded cables.